THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 10 p.m. on PBS ( check local listings )

Promised Land by Yoruba Richen

Though apartheid ended in South Africa in 1994, economic injustices between blacks and whites remain unresolved. As revealed in Yoruba Richen's incisive Promised Land, the most potentially explosive issue is land. The film follows two black communities as they struggle to reclaim land from white owners, some of whom who have lived there for generations. Amid rising tensions and wavering government policies, the land issue remains South Africa's "ticking time bomb," with far-reaching consequences for all sides. Promised Land captures multiple perspectives of citizens struggling to create just solutions. See a trailer: www.pbs.org/pov/promisedland

About the Filmmaker:

Yoruba Richen is a gay African-American journalist and documentary filmmaker who has worked on films that have aired on HBO, A&E and BET. She was the co-producer of Take it from Me, a documentary exploring the effects of welfare reform on New York City women, which was broadcast on POV in 2001. Richen was also an associate producer for the investigative unit of ABC News as well as a producer for the independent radio and television news program Democracy Now.

Richen, who received a BA from Brown University and master's degree in city planning from UC Berkeley, is an adjunct professor at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. She is currently developing "The New Black," a documentary that examines the complicated, combative and overlapping histories of the African-American and LGBTQ civil rights movements. Richen was born and raised in Harlem in New York City and currently resides inBrooklyn.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 10 p.m. on PBS ( check local listings )

Off and Running by Nicole Opper

Off and Running is the story of Brooklyn teenager Avery Brooks Klein-Cloud, a track star with a bright future. She is the adopted African-American child of white Jewish lesbians. Her two brothers are black and Puerto Rican and Korean-American. Though it may not look typical, Avery's household is like most American homes — until Avery writes to her birth mother and the response throws her into crisis. She struggles over her "true" identity, the circumstances of her adoption and her estrangement from black culture. Just when it seems as if her life will unravel, Avery begins to make sense of her identity, with inspiring results. See a trailer: www.pbs.org/pov/offandrunning.

Off and Running was an Audience Favorite Finalist at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and winner of the Jury Award for Outstanding Documentary at Outfest, Best Documentary at the Milan International Women's Film Festival, Best Documentary at Philadelphia Qfest, among others.

About the filmmaker:

Lesbian filmmaker Nicole Opper's credits include producing the Emmy-nominated "The Killer Within" ( Toronto International Film Festival, Discovery Channel ) , "Sacco and Vanzetti" ( Winner of Best Historical Film by American Historical Society ) , and Here TV's five-part documentary series, "LSS". She is pursuing her master's in media, culture and communication at NYU's School of Education and holds a degree in filmmaking from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She was selected for Filmmaker Magazine's annual 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2009 and for HeebMagazine's list of "100 Jews You Need To Know About" in 2008. Opper is currently a Fulbright Fellow in Mexico, where she in production on "The Ipo Boys" ( working title ) , a documentary about an innovative group home for abandoned youth.